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Rain washes out Indians-White Sox tilt

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By Jordan Bastian
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MLB.com |

CHICAGO -- The Indians showed up to U.S. Cellular Field on Tuesday hoping to extend their recent hot streak, but they will just have to wait another day.

A few hours before the scheduled first pitch, Tuesday's game between the White Sox and Indians was postponed due to persistent rain in Chicago. A makeup date has yet to be announced and the teams will play just one game on Wednesday before the Tribe hits the road for Kansas City.

"You play when you play," manager Terry Francona said with a shrug. "We can't stop the weather and neither can [the White Sox]."

Right-hander Zach McAllister, who was scheduled to start on Tuesday, will take the mound Wednesday in the 2:10 p.m. ET tilt against the Indians' American League Central rivals. The White Sox will counter with lefty Jose Quintana.

Francona indicated that starter Corey Kluber -- originally slated to start on Wednesday -- will be available as a long reliever over the next few days. Cleveland's manager added that Kluber potentially could start for the Tribe on Monday in Kansas City, but there is also a chance McAllister will pitch that day as planned.

"It's depending on how things work out," Francona said. "It gives us several options with the day off [Thursday]. We'll see how it plays out."

Cleveland's first three probables for the upcoming four-game series with the Royals remain unchanged: Scott Kazmir (Friday), Ubaldo Jimenez (Saturday) and Justin Masterson (Sunday).

When Francona arrived at the ballpark on Tuesday, he was informed by a member of the White Sox grounds crew that the teams could be in for a long night. Instead of waiting for a break in the weather, though, the White Sox announced around 2:30 p.m. that the game had been postponed.

The Indians return to Chicago June 28-30 with an off-day directly following the series on July 1. Cleveland is also in Chicago for a four-game set from Sept. 12-15.

The rainout comes during a rough stretch for Chicago, which has lost 10 of its past 13 games. For the Indians, the postponement interrupted a season-best three-game winning streak.

"Right now, everything is kind of rocking for us," first baseman Nick Swisher said. "[Monday] night was a monster win for us. Three games in a row we've really gone out there and done what we needed to do. It just goes to show you that we are capable of doing this and it's our job to go out there and continue to keep it going."

That said, Swisher added that the players were not necessarily complaining about the unexpected respite.

"You look in here, all the guys are chill," Swisher said. "For us, man, we've got such a good group of dudes over here. To come to the ballpark every single day and have so much fun with these guys every day, it's great. Not only that, we've got so much talent in here that's ... untapped.

"I think if we can all find that, and we can get in our game plan, things are going to work out for us really well."